ISS Upcoming EVA, Resupply Mission, and the Possibility of Future Privatization
There are currently 6 people from 3 countries on the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting Earth in LEO once every 92 minutes at 7.6 km per second. Expedition 55 crew members Ricky Arnold (L) and Drew Feustel are scheduled for a 6.5-hour USA EVA #50 on May 16 to install an HD camera and swap out the pump flow control subassemblies, the thermal control gear responsible for keeping the station systems cool by circulating ammonia. This will be the 210th EVA for ISS overall, and televised live beginning at 08:10 EDT. Four days later on May 20, Orbital ATK is scheduled to launch the 10th Cygnus cargo freighter (dubbed S.S. J.R. Thompson) from Pad OA at Wallops Island, Virginia. This mission, designated OA-9, will be the 9th contracted mission on Antares. It will launch with 2 RD-181 first stage engines and a Castor 30XL second stage to resupply ISS with ~3,350 kg of cargo and hardware, some of which will be installed during USA EVA #51 on June 14. The current USA Administration plans to end ISS funding at the end of 2024 and is considering expanding into privatizing the ISS by fostering commercial capabilities with support from NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. Privatization could be used as an alternative to support ISS endeavors outside of a government funded budget. (Image Credit: NASA)
MONDAY
Ongoing… May 14 — ISS, 405-km LEO: Expedition 55 to facilitate EVA this week including charging Extravehicular Mobility Unit Long Life Battery, preparing for suit donning and transferring tools / equipment; planning for Cygnus OA-9 arrival & capture, continuing work on 5 independent studies in Combustion Integrated Rack, taking samples of surfaces and air for analysis.
May 14 — NewSpace: Bigelow Aerospace on track to launch 2 private space stations in 2021, which could function as lunar depots; Virgin Galactic planning multiple powered flights of VSS Unity, analyzing data from 1st successful powered flight; NanoRacks to launch up to 15 CubeSats for Canada.
May 14 — Galaxy: Breakthrough Listen Initiative begins using new digital instrumentation at Australia Parkes Radio Telescope to survey millions of stars located in the plane of Milky Way; researchers continue to discover number of X-ray binaries and black holes in Galaxy center near Sgr A*.
May 14 — Global: China testing human-rated reentry spacecraft; Africa students to receive scholarship for space engineering training through agreement with Tokyo University; UK narrowing down from 8 sites to build 1st spaceport, space sector thought to employ 40,000 people currently.
May 14 — USA: If approved FY 2019 CJS Appropriations bill would provide US$21.5B for NASA and fully fund requested amounts for Human and robotic return to the Moon, Europa Clipper, Orion / SLS, and Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway; NASA Admin Jim Bridenstine comments on Moon missions leading to and necessary for Mars.
May 14 — Hawai’i: Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science preparing for summer internships connecting Native Hawaiian students with scientific organizations; NASA satellite photos of Kilauea could assist in determining future lava flow & gas paths; HI-SEAS Mission VI planning call for new applicants, 7-part podcast ‘The Habitat‘ available online.
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for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
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6th European Lunar Symposium with 5 Main Themes Being Held Under SSERVI in Toulouse, France
The Europe nodes of Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) are hosting the 6th European Lunar Symposium (ELS) at Les Abattoirs in Toulouse, France May 14-16 with support from NASA, ESA, ASI, IRAP, DLR and others. Expecting ~140 participants, ELS broad themes cover Future Lunar Missions, In-situ Resource Utilization, and Science of the Moon, on the Moon, and from the Moon. Global and diverse interest in a lunar return, science and technologies will be highlighted by 52 posters and 68 fifteen-minute talks including (T-B) Ben Bussey on NASA Human exploration and lunar activities, James Carpenter on ESA lunar exploration plans, Makiko Ohtake on Japan lunar polar mission, Luca Porcelli on Italy MoonLIGHT retroreflector, and Simeon Barber on UK L-DART penetrator system. The Remote Sensing and Geological Implications session is chaired by Harald Hiesinger from University of Münster. During the ISRU session, Kyle Acierno of ispace, N. Srinivasa Hegde of Team Indus, and Alain Berinstain of Moon Express will talk about commercial lunar missions. Carle Pieters of Brown University will contribute a talk on “What Lunar Swirls Represent (….probably)”. Participation will also come from Canadian Space Agency, SETI, Open University, UH Manoa, and ILEWG. While ESA has only had one mission to the Moon (technology demonstrator SMART-1 in 2003), Europe has been contributing to many lunar / deep space research studies, developing payload technologies for planned international lunar missions, supporting the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, and expanding the Moon Village concept. (Image Credit: SSERVI, ESA, EYMD, NASA, L. Porcelli, Open University, WWU)
May 14-16 — SSERVI, NASA, ESA, DLR, ASI, University of Amsterdam, University of Toulouse, The Open University, IRAP, Toulouse, France:2018 European Lunar Symposium (ELS); preregistration and reception on May 13.
May 14 — Aten Asteroid 2018 JL1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.019 AU)
May 14 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 JY: Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU)
Continued from…
Dec 21, 2017 – Jun 4 — New Horizons, KBO Ultima Thule (2014 MU69) Trajectory: Spacecraft in hibernation mode until Jun 4; will awaken and prepare for KBO flyby 1 Jan 2019; approach phase officially begins in August.
NET May 10-30 — Rocket Lab, Launch Electron / “It’s Business Time” Multi-Payload, Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand: Launch window opens for first fully commercial launch dubbed ‘It’s Business Time’ with two Spire Lemur 2 CubeSats and one GeoOptics CICERO satellite.
May 15 — Elting Memorial Library, New Paltz NY: Discussion on LRO / LCROSS missions for exploring the Moon; with Kenneth Bailey from NASA Solar System Ambassador Program.
May 15-16 — Farvest Group, Luxembourg: Space Forum Conference; industry representatives from over 70 countries gather to discuss the impacts of space exploration.
May 15-17 — Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute, MDA, University of Toronto, Altair, ABB, et al, Quebec City, Canada: Astro 2018 Biennial Conference.
May 15 — Moon: New Moon, 01:49; 8.7° SSE of Pleiades, 12:00.
May 15 — Venus: At perihelion (0.7184 AU from Sun), 13:00.
May 15 — Apollo Asteroid 2010 WC9: Near-Earth Flyby (0.001 AU)
May 15 — Aten Asteroid 1999 LK1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.034 AU)
May 15 — Apollo Asteroid 101955 Bennu: Near-Earth Flyby (0.352 AU)
WEDNESDAY
May 16 — ISS, U.S. EVA #50, 405-km LEO: Expedition 55 members Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel to perform 6.5-hour spacewalk to swap out thermal control gear that circulates ammonia (Pump Flow Control Subassemblies), and install HD camera – it will mark the 210th EVA at ISS overall; live coverage available, starts 08:10 EDT.
May 16 — Centre for Quantum Technologies at National University of Singapore, Humboldt University of Berlin, Singapore:Quantum Technologies in Space Workshop.
May 17 — Stanford Student Space Initiative (SSI), Stanford CA: SSI’s Annual Spring Showcase; held first floor of Durand, the Aero / Astro building, starts 15:00.
May 17 — British Interplanetary Society, London, United Kingdom: Lecture: Orbital Access to Space from the UK? Project Leader Robin Brand will present the results of the two-year BIS Technical Project “The BIS NLV feasibility study”.
May 17 — University Space Engineering Consortium, Online:Abstracts Due: 5th Mission Idea Contest; on innovative exploitation of micro/nano-satellites that satisfy any of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
May 18 — `Imiloa Astronomy Center, University of Hawai’i at Hilo,Hilo HI:Maunakea Skies Talk; astronomers from Subaru Telescope discuss research, recent discoveries, and science; 19:00.
May 18 — Moon: 11.6° S of Castor, 23:00.
May 18 — Apollo Asteroid 2018 HV2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.084 AU)
SATURDAY
May 19 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Iridium Next 51-55 & GRACE Follow-On,Vandenberg AFB CA: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch 5 satellites for Iridium next mobile communications fleet and 2 Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On satellites for NASA and German Research Centre for Geosciences.
May 19 — San Diego Air and Space Museum, San Diego CA: Space Day 2018; featuring Astronaut Woody Spring, demonstrations, giveaways, hands-on activities with local and national space experts.
May 19 — Long Hunter State Park, Hermitage TN: Great Red Spot & Solar Eclipse on Jupiter with The Astronomy Channel Mobile Observatory; with Lonnie Puterbaugh from NASA Solar System Ambassador Program.
May 19 — West Windsor-Plainsboro Education Foundation Inc., Plainsboro NJ: WW-P Second Annual Innovation Fair with exhibits and activities in science, technology, engineering, the arts, math, robotics, makers and programming, solar system exploration.
May 19 — Moon: 8.0° S of Pollux, 03:00.
May 19 — Amor Asteroid 2018 HQ1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.067 AU)
SUNDAY
May 20 — Akatsuki, Venus Orbit: JAXA first successful planetary orbiter imaging Venus atmosphere, monitoring weather changes reaches 8 full years in space today, launched 2010.
May 20 — Orbital ATK, Launch Antares / Cygnus OA-9, Wallops Island VA: Upgraded Antares rocket to launch 10th Cygnus cargo freighter, dubbed S.S. J.R. Thompson, with up to 3,200-kg of cargo on 9th operational flight to the ISS; also lofting multiple secondary satellites; 05:04 EDT.
May 20-24 — American Geophysical Union Space Physics and Aeronomy Section, American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division, Leesburg VA:Triennial Earth-Sun Summit; second summit to host over 400 presentations.
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May 14 — 
May 14 — NewSpace: 
May 14 — USA: If approved 
= All times
= All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
= All times for space events, and…
= All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).
